Football Italia: Season 4 – Playoff Disappointment

Season Four: Playoff disappointment but huge progression

Just under four seasons in charge of Messina and I’m completely in love with this project.

Before we get to the on-pitch stuff, I was delighted to be able to get Wisdom Amey to sign permanently, after having  agreed terms following a very successful loan spell, but more on that later. He was joined by a new crop of academy graduates, led by  Adama Kouakou  and  Andrea Nicolini. I’ve just upgraded my HoYD to Marco Fioretto and can’t wait to see what he can do over the coming years.

Whilst I’m trying to build a squad built around statistical outputs, I must say that the set for release day is one of my favourite now I’ve taken to approaching it differently. Once I get the list, I dip into the player search feature – which I rarely do but there isn’t a better mechanism – and look through those who are about to be released from academies within Italy. I look at their statistics from the youth levels as well as getting a brief scouting report on them. Following that, I like to trial the most promising and spend the last month or so of the season as open trials for these youngsters. In the past, I’ve picked up Merola, Ibrahimovic, Ruggeri and Bellino using the method and, this season, I’ve added two more faces. Luca Di Mauro is an aggressive midfield general who has height and tenacity. Lacking maybe a little technically, he’s not quite ready for fully fledged first team action but signed with a nice cheap contract. The comparison between he and other specialist DM Ruggeri shows that there is definitely scope for him to become a useful player but I do feel that a loan next year might be the most beneficial. Secondly, Marco Biagioni was signed following a hugely successful trial period, where I tried him out in both attacking midfield roles within my tactic. Comparing him and Ibrahimovic and also with Clemenza, you’ll see that he’s already better – on paper – than the former and is also looking to be a competent long-term replacement for the latter. He’s very much still considered a project signing as his only first team experience was out in the Slovakian top tier but he’s an exciting dribbly boy with enough pace and precision about him to also unlock defences with a pass.

With, potentially, one upgrade already secured, I set off to find out which division we’d be playing in next year:

The last ten games produced some really strong performances – mirroring that across the rest of the season. Strong wins against Sudtirol, who’ve struggled since being relegated back to Serie B and in the Sicily derby were slightly overshadowed by a poor showing away at Brescia and a last game holiday-mode performance against Mantova, who were fighting to save themselves from relegation. A win would’ve put us into fourth place and seen the playoff schedule look somewhat different.

In the end, we dispatched eighth placed Cesena before falling over two legs to Pescara. We drew the first leg but, admittedly, that was not the result that the tie deserved as we failed to hit the target all game, accruing just 0.43xG. Pescara were cagey, too, but I always felt that the first goal, particularly at home, would be really necessary to get anything. It turned out that it was the case – two nil down inside twenty minutes with both goals completely against the run of player knocked the wind out of our sails and we had nothing left. An Owusu goal made things look a bit more respectable on paper but their goal, on the stroke of half time, killed the tie and, essentially, any hope that we had.

Pescara secured promotion with a win over SPAL in the final.

However, despite the disappointment – this has been a momentous season for us. We’ve been promoted to the second tier, ended with the second best offence and – by far – the best defence in the league, finishing fifth overall, above two of the relegated Serie A sides and some huge sides like Verona, Ascoli and Venezia. Statistically, we’ve dominated in many areas, still leading the league in xG underperformance, which, when turned into xPts would’ve seen us finish top of the league. We’re the best dribblers, having created the most chances (but the worst shot on target percentage) and give the opponents the most passes between each defensive action.

In terms of the players overall performances, there have been some standouts, too. Despite not hitting the heights of last year, both Owusu and Merola (who lost his stats when moving club and rejoining) hit double figures for goals and midfield duo Lucenti and Bellino also backed up last season’s double figure goal involvement tally by doing it at a higher level. Tripaldelli was the standout with fourteen assists from the left wing whilst Esposito’s twenty-one clean sheets was, by far, a league best.

Those with a star next to their name met by 80% of last season target, which was an expectation given the increase in level that we’ve had this time out, whilst those in green have met or exceeded the Serie B average for their position.

Amey was a fantastic acquisition to the team, suring us up defensively and being the only one to be above average in terms of header completion this season. I am delighted to be keeping him. He’s sat well with youngster Fall, who was promoted because of the loss of Masudi back in January. It’s likely that Berto – the weakest of my centre backs and the one with the least number of minutes, may well be off. Elsewhere, there is slightly skewed data given the limited minutes for Fucili and Salerno – the backup wing backs and there is one real standout under performer: Maxi Ibrahimovic. I think he’s struggled to reach the level required and, with the arrival of Biagioni, I think he’s the sale that funds my summer spending.

In terms of our financial situation, we’ve made it out alive due to the player sales and will have to do that again for as long as we remain here! It’s going to be a hugely fun summer but one that I’m going to map out to the nth degree!

Forza Biancoscudati!